“Orchestrate”
sees world acclaimed guitarist Michael Harris back with the most
ambitious album of his career. With a style best described as "Neo
Orchestral Metal” the album is a modern day masterpiece. One
listen reveals the unique combination of electric guitar playing a very
“classical meets metal” style with an orchestra and metal drumming
complete with stunning guitar virtuosity.
On
the album Michael comments, “My original vision was to go back to my
“Defense Mechanizms” roots, yet to focus on one style, neo classical
metal. As the record developed, I realized "Orchestral" was a better
term, so I consider the record to be my one & only neo-orchestral
record. My previous instrumental records have had some “classical meets
metal” compositions, but this record is focused exclusively on that
style. I recorded all the backing strings, etc on my keyboard, and
rather than playing chords, most of the time I treated it like scoring
an orchestra, recording one "voice" at a time. There is still plenty of
guitar of course, and drummer Matt Thompson did an outstanding job. My
focus compositionally was to create strong themes first and foremost,
before the musicianship & full arrangements came into
play”.
On
the making of the album Michael states, “I recorded all the backing
strings, etc on my new Yamaha Motif ES keyboard (because the sounds blew
me away) and rather than playing chords, most of the time I treated it
like scoring an orchestra, recording one "voice" at a time. Time
consuming? Hell yes! So what! There is still plenty of guitar on the
record of course, and Matt's drumming just kicked the whole thing in the
arse!”
“My
focus compositionally was to create strong themes first and foremost,
before the musicianship & full arrangements came into play. I didn't
intend on writing around any particular "culture" of music
stylistically, but when I listen back, I hear many different styles,
even some Russian / Slavic themes. I also wanted to create a record that
breathes with a lot of dynamics, also with at least one tempo
descelerondo, and some free time tempos”.
Michael’s
classical inspirations include the classical composers include Bach,
Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dukas, and Vivaldi. Michael’s more
recent favourites include Krzysztof Penderecki and Allan Pettersson,
stating, “I’ve found them to have some captivating ideas texturally,
but the classical composers I appreciate the most (above) are the ones
who composed with the greatest melodic sense”.
